The Silent Wife. Karin Slaughter

      

      THE SILENT WIFE

      Karin Slaughter

       Copyright

      Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2020

      Copyright © Karin Slaughter 2020

      Will Trent is a trademark of Karin Slaughter Publishing LLC.

      TROUBLE ME Written by Natalie Merchant and Dennis Drew ©1989 Christian Burial Music (ASCAP) All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. International Copyright Secured.

      Lyrics from:

      “Whistle” (written by Flo Rida, David Edward Glass, Marcus Killian, Justin Franks, Breyan Isaac, Antonio Mobley, Arthur Pingrey and Joshua Ralph)

      “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” (written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio)

      “The Girl from Ipanema” (written by Antônio Carlos Jobim, Portuguese lyrics by Vinicius de Moraes, English lyrics by Norman Gimbel)

      “My Kind of Town” (written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn)

      “Funky Cold Medina” (written by Young MC, Matt Dike and Michael Ross)

      “Into the Unknown” (written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez)

      Cover design by Claire Ward © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2020

      Cover photograph © Ildiko Neer/Trevillion Images

      Karin Slaughter asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

      A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      Source ISBN: 9780008303440

      Ebook Edition © June 2020 ISBN: 9780008303464

      Version: 2020-11-10

       Dedication

       For Wednesday

       Epigraph

      Speak to me.

       Let me have a look inside these eyes while I’m learning.

       Please don’t hide them just because of tears.

       Let me send you off to sleep with a “There, there, now stop your turning and tossing.”

       Let me know where the hurt is and how to heal.

       Spare me? Don’t spare me anything troubling.

       Trouble me, disturb me with all your cares and your worries.

       Speak to me and let our words build a shelter from the storm.

      Trouble Me by Natalie Merchant and Dennis Drew, 10,000 Maniacs

       Please note that this is a work of fiction. I have taken some liberties with the timeline.

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

      Copyright

      Dedication

      Epigraph

       Prologue

      Chapter 1. Atlanta

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3. Grant County—Tuesday

Chapter 4. Atlanta

       Chapter 5. Grant County—Tuesday

       Chapter 6. Atlanta

       Chapter 7

       Chapter 8

       Chapter 9

       Chapter 10. Grant County—Wednesday

       Chapter 11. Atlanta

       Chapter 12. Grant County—Wednesday

       Chapter 13. Atlanta

       Chapter 14. Grant County—Wednesday

       Chapter 15. Atlanta

       Chapter 16

       Chapter 17

       Chapter 18. Grant County—Thursday

       Chapter 19. Atlanta

       Chapter 20

       Chapter 21. Grant County—Thursday

       Chapter 22. Atlanta

       Chapter 23

       Chapter 24

       Chapter 25. Grant County—Thursday

       Chapter 26. Atlanta

       Chapter 27. Grant County—Thursday—One Week Later

       Chapter 28. Atlanta

       Chapter 29

       Chapter 30. One week later

       Author’s Note

       Keep Reading …

       Acknowledgments

       About the Author

       Also by Karin Slaughter

       About the Publisher

       Prologue

      Beckey Caterino stared into the darkest corners of the dorm refrigerator. She angrily scanned the food labels, searching for her scrawled initials on anything—cottage cheese, Lunchables, bagel bites, vegan hot dogs, even carrot sticks.

      KP, Kayleigh Pierce. DL, Deneshia Lachland.